Interactive Learning Discrete Time Signals And Systems With Matlab And Ti Dsk6713 Dsp Kit

Abstract

Discrete time signal and systems courses are a good starting point to study in the electrical and computer engineering program. It is interesting because of the multimedia capability and the ability of the students to make something happen with audio signals. Also, discrete time signals and systems are used increasingly in a wide spectrum of applications, such as; instrumentation, telecommunications, medical, automotive, control, graphics/imaging, military, consumer electronics, industrial, voice/speech etc. This will help students get an idea on how and where they can use it. For that reason it should be introduced to students early because it would help in recruitment and retention of electrical and computer engineering students. To motivate the beginning engineers to the hard work of connecting mathematics and computation, we can teach discrete time signal and systems interactively and visually using some computer tools.

In this paper, we present a suite of interactive discrete time signal and systems demonstration modules using MATLAB, Simulink and TI DSK6713 DSP kit. Using some practical applications and simulation, we can make the class more interesting and interactive. Most demos use real- world signals such as speech and music so that the student can appreciate the concepts better. We focus on providing visualization tools that accentuate the intuitive aspects of discrete time signal and systems algorithms. Our goal is to design intuitive and flexible tools that the students could use to experiment freely with signals and algorithms, without getting overly involved in programming. This will guide the students through basic concepts of signal representations, sampling, quantizing, coding, frequency domain representation, impulse response and transfer function, digital filters, and basic filter types.

Digital Signal processing (DSP) technology has changed fast and is extremely growing in the commercials sector such as cellular phones, automobiles, stereo equipment, CDs, MP3 formats, and MPEG formats. This growth supports the discrete time signals and systems courses in the electrical and computer engineering undergraduate curriculums to gain a solid understanding of fundamental DSP theory, implementation, and applications in more detail. The changes in computer and DSP technologies and having multimedia capabilities on selections of DSP boards make it easy to implement visual simulations and real time applications.

Many universities have experience to implement DSP in their freshman or sophomore year as DSP course 1, 2, 3. Some selective universities may be very successful using this approach, but some may have problem with typical freshman student who don’t have enough math